HYDERABAD, Oct 8: Expressing concern over the water rotation programme, the Sindh Abadgar Board has said that water crisis in the province has attained alarming proportions.

At a meeting held here on Saturday, office-bearers of the board said that water shortage at tail-end areas had become a permanent problem.

They said that protest demonstrations and sit-ins outside press clubs in the province had become a matter of routine.

Abdul Majeed Nizamani presided over the meeting.

The meeting blamed the water shortage on inefficiency and corruption of officials of the irrigation department.

It urged members of the Sindh Assembly to raise the water issue in the assembly and ask for an inquiry into sanction of direct outlets from main canals between 1947 and 1971.

The meeting said that it should also be informed whether the outlets and minors were sanctioned in accordance with the Irrigation Act and alternate arrangements had been made to supply water to lands which had been rendered barren.

It sought clarification that how much katcha land had been legally leased out and how much land had been cultivated illegally including the source of water supply.

The meeting also sought information about the past and present state of forests in Sindh.

It demanded that the release of water from the Kotri barrage should be ensured latest by October 31 to save crops which had been cultivated late.

The meeting demanded that according to the Sugarcane Act, sugar mills must start crushing season on October 31 in Sindh and on November 30 in Punjab.

It demanded that the price of sugarcane should be fixed with the joint consultation of the government, sugar mills and farmers.

The meeting said that principle of demand and supply in the world market, crop condition, cost of production and weather forecast should be kept in mind while fixing the price.

It proposed that a committee comprising sugar technologists, sugar mills and farmers should be formed to find out ways for increasing per acre yield of crop in minimum possible time with less use of water and more recovery of sucrose.

It said that funds to evolve new varieties of sugarcane for producing 63 million tons crop for 74 functional mills of the country should be made available to the committee at the ratio of 75 per cent from the road cess funds and a matching grant from the government.

It suggested that as long as 63 million tons sugarcane was not produced in the country to meet the total crushing capacity of 74 sugar mills, no new sugar mill should be sanctioned.

It cautioned that any new sugar mill would not only have adverse affect on most important crop of cotton and wheat but the cane crop would require an additional 1.6MAF of water which would increase hatred between provinces.

It demanded that sugarcane being food item should be exempted from taxes and water supply and loan facilities as well as the availability of inputs should be ensured to cane growers.

It demanded that 14 per cent water shortage in the Rabi crop should be improved through administrative measures.

The meeting demanded that loans for farmers should be made available on easy instalments and through simplified procedure and prices of inputs should be controlled.

It regretted that the benefit of the decline in the price of diesel in the international market had not been passed on to productive sectors by the regulatory authority.

It demanded that prices of oil for the agriculture sector should be reduced.